Hoeven: Army Corps Will Proceed With Issuing Easement for Dakota Access Pipeline as #NoDAPL Camps Clear Out

“Today, the Acting Secretary of the Army Robert Speer informed us that he has directed the Army Corps of Engineers to proceed with the easement needed to complete the Dakota Access Pipeline,” Senator John Hoeven says in a press release which just dropped in my inbox (see below). “This will enable the company to complete the project, which can and will be built with the necessary safety features to protect the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and others downstream.”

Here’s video of Hoeven’s comments:

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Last year the Obama administration, you readers will remember, overruled the Corps’ conclusion that the permit should be issued in a blatantly political act.

Earlier this month President Trump walked back the Obama administration’s orders, order the Corps to rescind a lengthy environmental review Obama had started as a delay tactic and proceed with issuing the permit.

It sounds like, per Hoeven, that’s just what will happen.

Even better news is that it sounds like the pipeline construction may proceed without the violence and mayhem we saw from anti-oil political extremists last year. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has asked that long-standing protest camps be shut down and cleaned up, and per reports that’s just what is happening.

Even so, Hoeven says they’re still asking Trump for federal law enforcement resources (with the Obama administration denies) to deal with any renewed protests.

“We are also working with the Corps, the Department of Justice, the Department of Interior and the Department of Homeland Security to secure additional federal law enforcement resources to support state and local law enforcement,” Hoeven said. “On Sunday, 20 additional Bureau of Indian Affairs law enforcement officers arrived at Standing Rock to assist local authorities. Also, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Council has asked the protesters to leave the campsite on Corps land.”

Congressman Kevin Cramer’s response to the news from the Corps was a bit more…succinct.